Interviews with Top Bloggers: Justin Premick
Haven’t you heard about Justin Premick yet? Does AWEBER ring a bell?
While you could learn a ton of cool stuff about e-mail marketing and subject lines, today we’re asking Justing some burning questions about “Blogging”.
Click here to download the PDF interview, or read the text version below…
1. Would you mind sharing a few things about
yourself and your background for our readers?
I plan and create educational materials designed to help business owners effectively manage their permission-based email marketing campaigns.
I started with AWeber in 2004 as a customer support representative. Through working with thousands of businesses on their campaigns, I learned a lot about what makes for good email marketing, and used that knowledge to move into my current position.
2. When did you get started blogging, and why?
A couple years ago, we were looking for a way to share articles, enhance our reputation as an email industry leader and connect with our customers in a more casual/personal way.
Blogging was a natural fit for these goals, and we launched it in August 2006.
3. What’s the biggest mistake you
made getting started with this?
If anything I’d say I was too long-winded at first – and that made some of my posts hard to get through.
But that’s the sort of thing that corrects itself as you blog more and get a better feel for how to write for blogs.
4. How did you come up with the
idea of launching your blog?
It really grew out of our larger plan to communicate more freely with customers and prospects.
There wasn’t really an “aha!” moment – we just decided that it made the most sense to use a blog to publish articles and interact with the AWeber user community. It was all very natural.
5. How often do you publish and
how do you get content ideas?
I shoot for two to three posts per week. Sometimes only one post goes up in a given week, and sometimes there are as many as four or five.
It really comes down to what I/we have to say that week. Putting out posts for the sake of sticking to a schedule doesn’t do you any good; you need to have something valuable to say, and if I don’t like an article I’ve written, I’ll withhold it from publishing until it’s the way I want it, or I’ll delete it entirely and go in a different direction.
6. How do you mainly receive (or generate)
traffic to your blog?
I focus on building our subscriber base, since I can reliably return them to the blog to read new articles.
I encourage visitors to subscribe to the blog by focusing on the convenience factor (I’ll tell them when there’s a new article so they don’t have to check back on their own) and offer a free bonus (our Email Deliverability guidebook, a PDF they can download after subscribing).
I also tell our other groups of customers and prospects about particularly compelling posts in my emails to them and link up new posts on Twitter.
I’ve published a series of posts on how we get more blog subscribers:
http://www.aweber.com/blog/email-marketing/double-blog-newsletter.htm
They go into more detail on my specific tactics than I can fit here.
7. What is your most closely-guarded
secret about blogging for money?
I don’t know that I have any “closely guarded secrets” but here are a few principles I think can help any blogger…
- Get your points across and get out of the way. Use as many words as you have to, but no more. Headers, bullet points, pictures and video are all great ways to “say more” using fewer words.
- Encourage people to talk and share. Invite comments and respond to them. Have a conversation.
- Don’t suppress your personality. Your likes, dislikes, sense of humor – all that stuff that makes up who you are – will keep people interested and coming back.
8. What differentiates your blog among
all the others in your niche field?
I think that for us it really comes down to listening to your audience and creating posts they want to read and share.
Many blogs in the email marketing industry are geared toward industry people – guys who have been doing this stuff for 10 years or longer and who know all the ins and outs.
Our blog isn’t like that. We publish for the end user (who is often already a successful business owner and marketer), not the industry expert who lives and breathes email all day long.
We do publish “thought leader” pieces now and then, but honestly, many of our most successful, best-loved posts are the simplest ones – “hey, here’s a simple way to get some more subscribers” or “here’s a list of ideas for things you can write about in your next email.”
9. If you had to get a boost in comments
from your blog readers, how would you do it?
Be controversial. Ask for readers’ opinions. Give them a chance to be heard. Write a rant (don’t overdo this, but do it now and then – nothing gets people talking like a rant).
10. Which are the blogs you visit frequently and why?
I’ve pared back my blog reading a lot – there are so many great ones out there that you could easily spend your entire day reading and never get anything done yourself!
A few that I still follow:
Seth Godin – http://sethgodin.typepad.com
Good for marketing advice, but almost more valuable for lessons in developing style and voice in your writing.
Copyblogger – http://www.copyblogger.com
Excellent copywriting and marketing blog from Brian Clark and team. Check out their series on headlines:
http://www.copyblogger.com/magnetic-headlines/
No Man Is an Iland – http://www.email-marketing-reports.com/iland/
Email marketing blog that is also brimming with style. Mark writes some heavy-duty, thought-provoking posts on email – I try not to miss any of them.
11. Which are your favorite bloggers and why?
Lots of favorites although I don’t read many blogs lately. The guys above are on my shortlist, but I’d also include Darren Rowse – he posts way more than I can keep up with, but he’s very down-to-earth and readable. Makes you feel like you know him personally.
12. Which plugins you can’t live without and why?
I don’t use a lot of plugins but I do like SEO Meta Editor:
http://cheekyo.com/seo-plugin/
Makes it easy to write better meta descriptions for my posts.
13. What is the most important thing you learned about blogging that you could share with your best friend?
Don’t fear criticism and disagreement. Some of the best conversations come out of those kinds of comments.
At the same time, don’t tolerate abusive behavior. Decide what will and will not be acceptable in comments on your blog and don’t be afraid to moderate to preserve the community.
14. What plans do you have for
the future with your blog?
We’ve done a few audio and video posts, but haven’t made them a regular part of the blog yet. I think that will happen soon.
I also want to invite some other AWeber team members to write for the blog – once a blog is established, having a variety of voices and perspectives helps to keep the blog fresh and appealing to new and long-time followers.
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We wish Justin success in the future and thank you very much for sharing your BLOGGING tips, tricks & secrets with us all! J
If you want to get further into blogging, check out these resources:
- WordPress Profit Maximizer – The BEST WordPress Plugins sent to you weekly via e-mail:
http://www.remarkableblogging.com/rb-products/wp-profit-maximizer/
- Lazy Blogging dot Com – “Here’s Everything You Wanted to Know About Building a Small Blog That Rakes-In $300, $3,000.. and Even $30,000 Per Month!”
Thank you,
Codrut Turcanu.
